5 reasons your prenup may not protect your company

You owned a company before you got married, so you and your spouse-to-be signed a prenuptial agreement. You wanted to make sure that your business was protected in case there was a divorce.

Now you can see divorce on the horizon, and you take another look at that prenup. There are reasons a prenup can be invalid. If it is, your company is no longer protected. Some of the main reasons include:

Your spouse was under duress when the paperwork was signed. He or she was forced or coerced into it, rather than signing freely.

The prenup is based on fraud. For instance, you lied about the value of your company. Your spouse can then argue that, had you been honest, he or she wouldn't have signed.

It wasn't filed properly or there are critical errors in the document.

The prenup is deemed to be unconscionable or too lopsided. For instance, maybe it not only protects your company, but it also says that you get all of your spouse's assets.

Proper legal representation wasn't used and the papers weren't filed correctly. If you just jotted down what you wanted on a napkin the day before the wedding and had your spouse sign it, it isn't likely to hold up for a variety of reasons.

Getting a prenup was a good idea, but make sure you know exactly how this legal process works. Don't trust blindly in the document. Courts are quite strict about this, so the best way to keep yourself and your company safe through the divorce is to know how to set everything up properly in advance.

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